Gallion was last seen walking to school during the morning hours of October 13, 1997 in Gillette, Wyoming. She never arrived for classes that day and has not been heard from again. At the time, investigators believed she'd run away with her 20-year-old boyfriend, who has not been identified. When questioned about Gallion's disappearance, the boyfriend said he had last seen her at 7:15 a.m. the day she vanished. Police believed he was concealing her. A few days later, Gallion's boyfriend also vanished. His vehicle was found abandoned on the wrong side of the road, facing the wrong direction. He was never seen again.

Wyoming authorities reopened her investigation in 2000 after being contacted by Montana investigators. Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was arrested that year for the 1996 abduction and presumed murder of Zachary Ramsay. A photo of Bar-Jonah is posted below this case summary. Authorities discovered unidentified bone fragments on Bar-Jonah's property during a search and compared Gallion's DNA to the remains. The fragments did not match Gallion, Ramsay or Janice Pockett, a child who disappeared from Connecticut in 1973. Officials have also investigated the possibility that Bar-Jonah was involved in the 1978 Massachusetts disappearance of Andrew Amato.

Bar-Jonah, whose given name was David P. Brown, had a lengthy criminal history. He was convicted of sexually abusing children in the past and has confessed to cannibalistic activites. He was scheduled to be tried for Ramsay's presumed murder in 2002, but the charges were dismissed due to lack of evidence. Ramsay's remains have never been located. Bar-Jonah was never charged in connection with Gallion's case and it is unknown if he was involved. He died of a blood clot in a Montana prison in April 2008, at age 51.

In January 2007, James Strahl, an accused murderer from South Dakota, allegedly confessed to Gallion's murder. A photograph of Strahl is posted below this case summary. He was in jail awaiting trial in connection with the 1998 death of another man, William O'Hare, when one of his cellmates, Aloysius Black Crow, stated Strahl had bragged about killing Gallion. Strahl allegedly stated he picked up Gallion hitchhiking after she ran away from home, and raped and killed her after she resisted his sexual advances. He said he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the murder. His employment records indicate he was absent from work around the time of Gallion's disappearance. Strahl, however, maintains his innocence in her case and stated he never confessed anything about her disappearance and Black Crow's story is a lie. Black Crow testified against Strahl at his trial for O'Hare's murder, although he was not allowed to mention Gallion. Stahl was convicted in September 2007 and sentenced to life in prison. He has not been charged in Gallion's case.

Curiously, this is not the only time Black Crow has given evidence in a missing person case. In early 2006, Black Crow told investigators that one of his other cellmates, David Lykken, had admitted to killing Pamella Jackson and Cheryl Miller, teenage girls who disappeared together from South Dakota in 1971 and were never found. Black Crow said he had obtained a taped confession from Lykken, who was charged with murdering both girls in July 2007. However, in February 2008, it was discovered that Black Crow had framed Lykken by getting another man to pose as him and confess in the tape recording. The murder charges against Lykken were dropped as a result, though he remains incarcerated for an unrelated kidnapping and rape. In March 2008, Black Crow pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury. Strahl's attorneys are seeking a new trial because he lied in the Miller/Jackson case.

Although many agencies continue to classify Gallion's disappearance as a runaway case, investigators believed that other factors may have been involved in Gallion's case since her Social Security number has not been used since her October 1997 disappearance. Her boyfriend's Social Security number has not been used either, indicating neither of them has gotten jobs, credit cards or driver's licenses. Gallion's case remains open and unsolved.

Above: Bar-Jonah, circa 2000;
Above: Strahl, circa 2006